BA Fashion Design

Course Overview

The BA Fashion Design in the University of Bedfordshire focuses on creativity and contemporary fashion design practices, which is underpinned by cultural, social, commercial, environmental, political, and conceptual ideas. You will create fashion collections using our industry-standard manufacturing facilities, as well as digital textile printing, laser cutting and 3D printing. As part of our Industry Speaker series, you will meet designers, artists, editors, curators and recruiters on a weekly basis. Through our close links with the industry, you will work on live briefs and competitions. Students will also get the opportunity to join our regular international trips to visit trade fairs and galleries as well as explore world fashion with the Go Global programme run by the university. The range of the fashion industry is reflected in this course, which encourages you to experiment with designs, materials and garment making processes while increasing your knowledge of the latest textile technologies and processes.

Program Mission

You will develop your own individual style as you explore related disciplines such as photography, screen-printing and illustration, and will also have the opportunity to respond to real industry briefs and implement live projects with leading fashion designers. The BA Fashion Design in the University of Bedfordshire also looks at the relationship between fashion design, history and contemporary debates in fashion and the wider visual world, a relationship that will allow you to explore your own creative direction. If you have completed an appropriate foundation degree or HND, you can join this course at stage three.

Admission/Entry Requirements

We will consider you as an individual and take into account all elements of your application, not just your qualifications. We are looking for breadth and depth in your current studies and enthusiasm for the subject you wish to study. In order to achieve 16 years of education equivalence from Higher Education Commission Pakistan, it is essential to have completed 12 years of local education (Metric/Intermediate) or 8 O-levels and 3 A-levels. In other instances, you will normally need to have the following:

  • At least 50% in HSSC (intermediate)
  • At least 2 A level passes at C or above
  • At least Merit/Merit/Pass in the BTEC Extended Diploma
  • A completed Access to Higher Education Diploma Equivalent qualifications such as International Baccalaureate

Contact the Admissions Team for additional guidance on whether the qualifications you currently hold or are taking would be suitable for entry: admissions@ivycollege.com.pk Admissions open for semesters commencing in January and September of every year. Ensure you allow adequate time for your application to go through the normal admission procedure of two weeks. Visit your nearest campus in time for securing a place in the programme.

Modules

Year 1 – Level 4

Context and Ideas Compulsory Fashion Design: Exploring Materials and Methods Compulsory
Introducing Studio Practice Compulsory Thinking Through Making Compulsory

Year 2 – Level 5

Collaborative Enterprise Compulsory Context and Meaning Compulsory
Developing Professional Practice Compulsory Fashion Design: Developing Materials and Methods Compulsory

Year 3 – Level 6

Creative Futures Compulsory Critical and Creative Contexts Compulsory
Final Major Project: Fashion Design Compulsory

Assessments

A range of appropriate assessments will enable you to grow in confidence and demonstrate your acquisition of knowledge and skills. The formative and summative assessment methods used across the course include:

  • Coursework to include examples of Fashion Design, research sketchbooks/portfolios, professional portfolios, research assignments, garment manufacture, 3-D development, essays, contextual writing and blogs.
  • Assessments based on individual and group presentations.
  • Portfolio reviews are a key means of assessing, but they are also important for collating work for a professional portfolio. This instils the right attitudes towards professional work whereby you can use your portfolio to promote yourself in professional contexts.
  • Essays and reports feature in developing writing skills, helping you to express ideas in a variety of ways and styles and to develop academic writing skills that are of particular benefit in producing the final year contextual rationale for your major project.
  • A midpoint Formal Formative Assessment to review all work in progress.
  • Key Skills are embedded in the teaching and learning of the course and will be taken into account in all assessments.

The assessments will develop incrementally across the course and allow you to gain skills, confidence and knowledge, receive feedback and develop, thus allowing you to implement this knowledge and feedback into subsequent assessments. At the end of the course, completion of the assessments will demonstrate your ability to analyse current art and design practice in relation to Fashion Design – and communicate this, in both written and visual formats, as well as demonstrate a range of transferable skills relevant to your professional employability.

Fees and Funding

The University of Bedfordshire fee will be directly payable to the university on the given deadline, which will be communicated to the student in the Acceptance Letter when the student successfully secures a place in the programme. The fee will be due annually for the duration of the degree. IVY fee will be charged on a semester-wise basis. There will be two semesters in one academic year, starting in January and September of each year. Contact the admissions team at your nearest IVY campus:

We have a limited number of scholarships that we offer to different students on the basis of the categories they fall into. Fee waivers are offered on a first-come-first-serve basis. Please access the Scholarship Policy and Form for further details.

Career Prospects

Employability skills are integrated into the course and provide you with an awareness of the real-world context of the creative industries in general and Fashion Design in particular.  You will be helped to develop a strategy for obtaining appropriate employment at the end of your course. Professional practice will be emphasised as part of all learning, with a work-related learning unit that will especially help you to become more focused on managing your career.  You will be helped with the preparation of a professional portfolio, including a CV and social media skills needed to promote yourself in a social-mediated art and design world.

By covering a breadth of topics, you’ll have your pick as to which career path to choose upon graduating. Whilst studying, you’ll:

  • Learn the specialised design and craft skills you will need to make your mark in the domestic or international fashion industry
  • Study in a dedicated, stimulating and lively studio environment with a sewing machine for every student
  • Develop an individual creative approach to the design and manufacture of a wide range of garments
  • Gain experience in the use of digital photography and pattern cutting, computer-aided design, digital textile printing and high-quality screen printing
  • Explore the multi-cultural and international contexts that can support your design and make ideas
  • Challenge the established designers as you prepare a garment collection and showcase your work on the runway at our Graduate Fashion Show
  • Benefit from the development of design and manufacturing skills that are transferable within the fashion industry

Typical graduate destinations for Fashion Design students include:

  • Direct work within contemporary fashion and textile design: Fashion designers, Fashion stylists, Textile developers and selectors, Pattern cutters
  • Work in related areas to design practice such as Teaching, CAD/CAM sample makers, Technologists.

Further Study

On completing BA Fashion Design in the University of Bedfordshire, study further at Masters level (Level seven), for example, MA Fashion Design, Promotion, Styling and Accessories.

Mode of Study

The BA Fashion Design in the University of Bedfordshire is taught using face-to-face learning. Students will have access to IVY resources as well as the University of Bedfordshire BREO/VLE to complete their studies/modules. Support will be provided by local and link tutors at IVY and UOB.